East Kilbride boss Billy Ogilvie says the fact his side’s draw with Spartans felt like a defeat shows how far they’ve come this season.

But he insists it’s too soon for them to be considered title contenders.

Kilby were on course for a fourth win on the bounce when Spartans’ Kevin Motion scored a stoppage time penalty to snatch a point for the defending Lowland League champions on Saturday.

Ogilvie revealed it felt like a defeat at full-time as his team slipped from top spot to third.

However, he is refusing to regard his team as serious challengers to Spartans’ crown at this early stage of the season.

He told the News: “That was a really sore one for us to lose a late goal like that. The dressing room was like a morgue at the end because the players were that disappointed.

“I said before this game that this game would be a measure of how far this team has come and we’ve gone out there, matched the defending champions at their place and outplayed them for big periods of the game.

“That’s quite an achievement but it’s too soon to be talking about us seriously challenging.

“We are still building a team here and there may be more movement in the squad this week, so I’ll wait until December and then I’ll be able to tell where we really are.”

Kilby conceded the late penalty when Paul Tierney handled in his own box and Ogilvie slammed his team for not holding out for the win.

He added: “We made a mistake to give the ball away in the build-up and then we’ve made a schoolboy error from the throw-in when they won the penalty.

“Paul has got too close to team-mate Danny McGuiness and the ball has come down and hit him on the hand.

“It’s disappointing because we really upped the intensity in the second half to take the lead and we didn’t see the game out the way we should have.”